Re: Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)
Comments from people who had been to the South suggested that it was much more exciting to come from there! Was pretty much a non-event coming from the North!
”Exciting” is an interesting choice of description. Coming to the Demilitarized Zone from the South there is certainly more drama and hoopla, than you seem to have experienced from the North. So I found it interesting to contrast my visit with yours.
From the South, a few days before travel into the DMZ visitors have to supply their passport details to the UN (where I write “UN” in this response, please feel free to replace the “N” with an “S”, and read it as “US” if you prefer), so the UN does a background check, before giving visitors clearance to travel. But this is akin to what you went through in China to get a visa, before you even entered the North, so no need for you to do it again just to enter the DMZ. We also had restrictions on what clothing we could and could not wear.
When entering the DMZ from the South, the UN supplies a “minder” to accompany visitors while they are in the zone. Again you got yours when you crossed the border into Korea, so no need for an additional one when entering the zone.
While in the DMZ visitors are restricted from taking photos, except at approved locations, and of approved settings. Just like you, no photos from the bus windows unless you are explicitly told that you may do so. I saw one person who had his camera requisitioned by the UN minder, who checked the photos that he had been taking. (You on the other hand, were lucky enough not to get your camera checked at the end of your trip.)
The trip up to the DMZ from the South certainly builds up to a climax, more so than your trip down from the North seemed to. As we sped North on our trip, copious and increasing amounts of razor wire fences and barricades became the norm, eventually even anti tank devices were deployed across sections of the main highway. The woods became littered with red flagged “mine field” warning signs, and we were told not to wander away from the group into the bush at any time. The further North we went along the highway from bustling Seoul, the less traffic there was, until we got to the point where it felt more like the main street of a ghost town. Of course our bus was bordered several times by the military, who inspected our passports.
So from the South there is a palpable sense of, an increase in tension, when heading into the DMZ, which certainly heightens the experience. Not to forget the final briefing before heading out to look at the huts on the demarcation line (at Panmunjom) where visitors have to sign a UN declaration basically absolving the UN of any responsibility if their
heads get blown off while in the area.
That being said, in the picture of yours looking back across the border to the large metal and glass Southern JSA building, you can see the smaller building slightly behind to the right, well the ground floor of that building is the JSA gift shop! LOL - All good tourist traps need a gift shop.
What happens if you put your feet from the south to the north and vice versa?
Source -
South Korean detained for unapproved trip to North - seattlepi.com
Also is there guard there? I don't notice anyone there?
As ermen points out when you visit the demarcation line at the Panmunjom JSA (Joint Security Area), only the military from the side from which you are visiting stand on the border, presumably to protect you from attack from the other side. (After all there is still officially a war going on, they are just in the middle of a rather long cease fire.)
In the case from the South, no one stands at the specific "line in the sand" (it is interesting to note the different positioning of the guards from the two sides). As etops1 points out, my border picture itself is taken through a window from inside one of the blue buildings. And just like on ermen’s visit, there is a guard from “your side” at the building’s back (or front, depending on your perspective) entry, but you are free to move around inside. (e.g. step here, now I am in North Korea, step back, now I’m in the South, and of course the old “one foot either side” and "now I’m in both" routine.)
